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Agamas as shruti :

Hindpedia says Sruti, the eternal word, is said to be of two forms – Nigama (Veda) and Agama

Also, Sri Vaishnava Acharya Yamunacharya (who was Ramanujacharya's guru's guru) composed a work called the Agama Pramanya, defending the scriptural authority of the Pancharatra Agamas

This scripture says agamas as shruti

ref1: Hindupedia
ref2: What are the Agama scriptures? Are they related to Shruti/Vedas?

Agamas are not shruti:

"By Sruti is meant the Veda, and by Smriti is meant the Dharma ShAstra"

                                      - Manu Smriti 2.10.

Hence, agamas are not shruti, as per manusmriti.

Question: As shruti is base root of hinduism pramana, hence how can we reconcile this very important difference in opinion on agamas being shruti or not? Will "Agama Pramanya" work be considered more or less pramana than manusmriti opinion in this regard?

Are Agamas shruti or not?

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zaxebo1
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    Agamas are Smriti - written by men. Sruti only refers to the Vedas. There have been several questions already as to Agamas. Do a search on the site. Not aware of anyone else that thinks that Agamas are sruti. – Swami Vishwananda May 07 '18 at 04:52
  • see https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/12282/what-are-the-agama-scriptures-are-they-related-to-shruti-vedas#comment30482_12282 – zaxebo1 May 07 '18 at 10:36
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    Agamas are not written by men enhance ur knowledge first.. but that of course does not mean they are Sruti..Agamas are Agamas, and Sruti is Veda..@SwamiVishwananda – Rickross May 07 '18 at 13:00
  • Agamas are Agamas Sruti means the Veda and Smriti means the Dharmashastras, Puranas are Puranas, so on.. so they are different kinds of Hindu scriptures.. no need to mix them up.. @zaxebo1 – Rickross May 07 '18 at 13:02
  • @zaxebo1 Both Agamas and Veda have a common feature viz- neither have an author.. but that does not mean that one is the other.. they are being mentioned as separate kinds of scriptures so so be it.. and Smriti refers to the Dharma Shastras.. So Agama is neither Smriti nor Sruti – Rickross May 07 '18 at 13:11
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    @zaxebo1 you Have quoted other post but didn't you Read those answers at all ? – Rakesh Joshi May 07 '18 at 20:34
  • Manusmriti also says Puranas are not smritis but many agree that Puranas are also smriti (remembered). – Sarvabhouma May 08 '18 at 03:55

1 Answers1

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First of all it should be understand that Agama is a very wide subject. It involves various aspects such as mantra, yantra, upasana, diksha, anushthana, temple construction, idol construction and so on.

There are many references which say that shruti are of two kinds. One is Vedas and other is agama. There is another post on agamas which you can go through here.

Firstly, since you have quoted manu smriti, I would like to start from the same point. The smriti does not say "AGAMAS ARE NOT SHRUTI". Hence it is not correct to assume such thing. In fact, Kulluka Bhatta, one of the oldest and celebrated commentator on Manu, says that Shruti is of two kinds, Vaidik and Tantrik.

Vaidiki tantrums caviar dvividha shrutih kirtita

Hence nigama and agama are two streams of the same eternal source of knowledge. There are many types of agamas like Shaiva, shakta, Vaishnava, Saura and so on. Many of them are related to shruti and considered as good as shruti (vedas).

Talking about the glory of agamas (tantras) Apastamba says "अन्गसमुदायस्तन्त्रम्" (1/15/1) which means that the one which links all the shastras is tantra/agama.

As per the Sharada Tilakam,

आगतम् शिववक्त्रेभ्यो गतम् च गिरीजाश्रुतौ

तदागम इति प्रोक्तं शास्त्र परमपावनम्

The agamas are related to Lord Shiva himself and it originated from his mouth hence in this way they are considered apaurusheya.

I will update the answer after some days with more references. But certainly there are enough references which equate agamas as shruti. So it is not smriti as believed by many.

Rakesh Joshi
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  • of all the above only kulluka bhatta is "clearly" saying that tantra is shruti . The url https://archive.org/details/manusmriti contains PDF file of manusmriti with kulluka bhatt commentary too. Can you tell please me the shloka number or page number" where this shloka by kulluka bhatt is mentioned there? – zaxebo1 May 08 '18 at 22:45
  • (1) apstamba sutra just says that agama links all the shahstras , it does not says agama is shruti. (2) Sharada Tilkam says that agama originated from shiva's mouth(and hence they are apaurusheya), but still it can not be inferred that they are shruti. It only proves as rickross said( https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/27389/how-can-agama-be-treated-as-shruti#comment78537_27389 ) both vedas and agamas are authorless. But at the most we can say( https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/27389/how-can-agama-be-treated-as-shruti#comment78536_27389 ) ..(continued in next comment)... – zaxebo1 May 08 '18 at 22:58
  • @zaxebo1 i think its 1.10. Also check srikantha commentary on Vedanta sutra 2.2.28 – Rakesh Joshi May 08 '18 at 22:58
  • @zaxebo1 if apaurusheya is not shruti then what is it ? Smriti? Its elaborate topic so i will.need time to compile and post. – Rakesh Joshi May 08 '18 at 23:00
  • ..(continued from previous comment)... that just as puranas are puranas - not smritis, in the same way though vedas and agamas are authorless, but still vedas are shrutis and agamas are agamas , but not shruti, ie agamas are class in themselves (As rickross suggested in the comment https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/27389/how-can-agama-be-treated-as-shruti#comment78536_27389 ). So how do we refute this one possibility of answer by rickross, because being apaurusheya still does not make it clear that their status is still as shruti cateogory or not – zaxebo1 May 08 '18 at 23:02
  • do not get me wrong. "I want to" beleive that agamas are shruti, but I am not yet scripturally convincingly clearly proven , esp. by any vedic shashtra that agamas are shruti; hence I am facing difficulty in convincing this to anybody else based on scriptures, esp. vedic scriptures. They do not take my shlokas from agamas as pramanas. Hence, It will be great to be COMPREHENSIVELY once for all proven that agamas are shruti .And I know that "only" @you(Rakesh joshi) and @KeshavSrinivasan can do it regarding agama. – zaxebo1 May 08 '18 at 23:06
  • @zaxebo1 yes but .i will need time.. I.have to find verses and transliteration. BTW Keshav is into Vedanta and not agama. And i am oppisite. Though i uphold vedas but not vedanta. I will quote from pancharatra too.. – Rakesh Joshi May 09 '18 at 01:17
  • There are two opinions that agama is coming from god hence equal to Vedas and another is that agama is derived from vedas. But for vedic matters vedas should be quoted and agamic matters its better to quote Vedas. – Rakesh Joshi May 09 '18 at 01:19
  • And like any other texts there are interpolation in agama too and many scripture are written later in.name of Agamas. – Rakesh Joshi May 09 '18 at 01:20
  • @zaxebo1 you can also join agama discussion https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/53977/agama-and-tantra – Rakesh Joshi May 09 '18 at 14:25